Anyone know where to get cheap 512mb Compactflash cards?!?!?!

[Supahfreak]

I know Newegg has them for like $275.00 but anywhere else have a better deal??? Dunno if this is in the right forum but oh well.

FreAk

 

[xylem]

look in hot deals, think i saw one for about $200

 

[Amused]

If you're going to spend that much, you might as well get a 1GB microdrive.

 

[Eug]

The newegg.com stuff is low end (slow) Mr. Flash stuff.

If you want high end, get Sandisk Ultra (not the plain Sandisk), Kingston High Speed, Ridata, or something.

Cheap and good is Ridata, if you're willing to order from Australia.

Linky

Shipping is US$13. Got to me in Canada in about 5 days via FedEx. (256 MB card). US$260 for a 512 card. Two 256 cards are 246 though. Much better than that Mr.Flash stuff, which is rated slow and has some compatibility issues for a few (but rare) cameras.

The speed issue may or may not be important for you. If you use something with a fast interface, Ridata will be very fast compared to Mr. Flash. If you use something with a slow interface (like an old digital camera), it will make no difference.

 

[Pabster]

Ah, the Mr. Flash myths. They aren't "slow", and they work well with a wide variety of devices. Why the hell spend twice as much? You're paying for the name. Anyway, it's your money.

I've been using Mr. Flash CF of various sizes for over a year now with no compatibility or speed issues, across a wide range of devices (digicams, mp3 units, et al.)

 

[gunf1ghter]

yes, I would like to see someone actually demonstrate how slower CF cards are actually slower in any real world tests... it's just a bogus myth to convince people to spend more money. I've used my Mr. Flash CF card in a variety of devices (4 MP Digicam, Ipaq) and it always works fine.

BTW, this belongs in the "I wanna" hot deals forum list.

 

[Eug]

<< yes, I would like to see someone actually demonstrate how slower CF cards are actually slower in any real world tests... it's just a bogus myth to convince people to spend more money. I've used my Mr. Flash CF card in a variety of devices (4 MP Digicam, Ipaq) and it always works fine. >>


Like I said, with some equipment the speed is irrelevant. With up-to-date readers and cameras it's quite noticeable.

Anyways, here you go:

Linky 1: Media benches

Compare for instance Ridata vs. the plain SanDisk stuff. SanDisk works fine, just like Mr. Flash would (not tested here), but it's slow.

Now this is with a Firewire reader, so most equipment won't be as fast. Fortunately, it will be for me. I have a Firewire reader on order.

How about a real world digital camera?

Linky 2: Canon G2 (I actually own this one.)

Now scroll down the to Continuous mode Flush Timing section. The differences in speed of the high speed Lexar stuff vs. the cheap included Canon brand CF is enormous. Remember though that the test only uses superfine 4 MP jpegs for the max file size in the test. These images are usu. a little under 2 MB. The camera is also capable of the .raw format which gets well over 3 MB each. :Q

As for Mr. Flash, it seems the data is all over the map, and I wonder if this has to do with them getting different flash made by different companies. The following link is not anywhere as reliable as the one above though.

Linky 3: Dimage 7

Some of the Mr. Flash stuff seems to perform as well as other, while other versions seem to be quite slow. OTOH, Kingston and Ridata are consistently fast.

Does this make a difference? Yes and no. For many people they won't because they won't take enough pix in a row to exhaust the buffer. But if you take pictures in .tiff mode (on some cameras) or in .raw mode (on my Canon G2), you'll exhaust the buffer quite quickly just after a few pix in a row, and then you need to depend on the write speed.

 

[gunf1ghter]

I own a Canon G2 also... and I have never had a problem with burst mode on the CF card. In any event, I don't believe that the speed differences are enough for most folks to spend 50% more for a "brand name" card that says it's 16X

 

[Eug]

<< I own a Canon G2 also... and I have never had a problem with burst mode on the CF card. In any event, I don't believe that the speed differences are enough for most folks to spend 50% more for a "brand name" card that says it's 16X >>


Which CF card do you own? I suspect you're not using the standard 32 MB Canon one. There are a lot cheap fast large MB cards out there. The only problem with going with noname brands is that you're never sure if you're getting a fast one or not. Now it's true that it may not matter much of the time to your average joe, but the point is if speed matters to you then it's a mistake to buy cheap CF. It's sort of like CPU speed. Really, in real life the difference in speed between a P4 1.4 and P4 1.8 is negligible for the average joe. However, to us ATers, esp. the gamer types, etc., it matters quite a bit.

 

[Eug]

By the way, the Ridata 512 MB card costs less shipped than the newegg.com Mr. Flash one without shipping. I see no point in going with Mr. Flash.

 

[aka1nas]

Also, keep in mind that sustained transfer rates are only important when you are trying to transfer large files to ro form the card. As far as downloading goes, the faster cards may be faster than a standard USB 1.1's(Maximum) interface of 1.5 Mb/s(Sandisk's Ultra CF are spec'ed at 2.8Mb/s). Also, this extra speed is only really crucial in camera's with resolutions of 4 megapixels and above(these tend to output files of 3MB and up.) Mp3 players don't need to access the cards this fast, and I don't think that current PDA's(I could be wrong on this), can really make efficient use of this extra speed on the faster cards. As far as brands go, Sandisk, Lexar, Viking, and Mitsubishi are the ones who make something like 90% of the CF cards, so any offbrand, like Mr. Flash, and most likely even brands like PNY and Memorex, are simply rebadged CF cards. Lexar and Viking do add enhancements to the CF cards they produce, in fact, they have both been sued in past times by Sandisk for alleged infringements to the patents that Sandisk holds for CF cards. Lexar does market 8x, 12x, and 16x cards, but you must keep in mind that those cards are NOT 16x faster than a Sandisk card. The original CF spec only calls for a transfer rate of 330Kb/sec. Lexar is most likely claiming that the card is 16x faster than that. As far as reliability goes, no card is rated for more than 10000 writes. However, Sandisk would probably get my vote for this category, as they are the OEM suppliers for flash memory for the Dept. of Defense and they supply all the solid state memory that is used in Fighter jets, etc. I have seen the occasional Lexar or PNY card come back defective at the Best Buy that I work at, but I have never seen a defective Compact Flash from Sandisk. Bottom line though, is that almost all these cards are very reliable for what the average consumer is using it for and brand and speed rating is only an issue if you have a device with larger storage and speed requirements. Also, keep in mind that with CF, all the controller circuitry is integrated into the card itself, so there can be minutes changes in performance from batch to batch, just like in a CPU.

 

[Radboy]

This might help, and also this.

 

[gunf1ghter]

Well if you really want money, and want to compare the cost of two 256 cards, you can get two 256 mr. flash cards for $178 shipped from newegg

really, I haven't seen a problem with mr. flash cards... I would be willing to bet they are manufactured by a major company that manufacturers one of the major brands.

 

[gunf1ghter]

Eug,

I am using the Mr. Flash 256M card in my G2 and it works great. I also occassionally use my 340M IBM Microdrive, I don't notice any slowdowns with that either, but battery life is of course shorter.

 

[Eug]

<< Also, keep in mind that sustained transfer rates are only important when you are trying to transfer large files to ro form the card. As far as downloading goes, the faster cards may be faster than a standard USB 1.1's(Maximum) interface of 1.5 Mb/s(Sandisk's Ultra CF are spec'ed at 2.8Mb/s). Also, this extra speed is only really crucial in camera's with resolutions of 4 megapixels and above(these tend to output files of 3MB and up.) Mp3 players don't need to access the cards this fast, and I don't think that current PDA's(I could be wrong on this), can really make efficient use of this extra speed on the faster cards. As far as brands go, Sandisk, Lexar, Viking, and Mitsubishi are the ones who make something like 90% of the CF cards, so any offbrand, like Mr. Flash, and most likely even brands like PNY and Memorex, are simply rebadged CF cards. Lexar and Viking do add enhancements to the CF cards they produce, in fact, they have both been sued in past times by Sandisk for alleged infringements to the patents that Sandisk holds for CF cards. Lexar does market 8x, 12x, and 16x cards, but you must keep in mind that those cards are NOT 16x faster than a Sandisk card. The original CF spec only calls for a transfer rate of 330Kb/sec. Lexar is most likely claiming that the card is 16x faster than that. As far as reliability goes, no card is rated for more than 10000 writes. However, Sandisk would probably get my vote for this category, as they are the OEM suppliers for flash memory for the Dept. of Defense and they supply all the solid state memory that is used in Fighter jets, etc. I have seen the occasional Lexar or PNY card come back defective at the Best Buy that I work at, but I have never seen a defective Compact Flash from Sandisk. Bottom line though, is that almost all these cards are very reliable for what the average consumer is using it for and brand and speed rating is only an issue if you have a device with larger storage and speed requirements. Also, keep in mind that with CF, all the controller circuitry is integrated into the card itself, so there can be minutes changes in performance from batch to batch, just like in a CPU. >>

Well said, although I don't think Lexar actually states what their numbers mean. I wonder if it's more like 16X 150 KB/s like CD-ROM drives, judging by the numbers. SanDisk's Ultra line too is fast, but I find them to be $$$ online.


<< Well if you really want money, and want to compare the cost of two 256 cards, you can get two 256 mr. flash cards for $178 shipped from newegg

really, I haven't seen a problem with mr. flash cards... I would be willing to bet they are manufactured by a major company that manufacturers one of the major brands. >>

Can't argue with that. I might even have bought a backup Mr. Flash 256 MB card from them if they shipped to Canada, but they don't. I too think they're rebadged cards. (Thus some might be fast while some might be slow.)

 

[Eug]

<< Eug,

I am using the Mr. Flash 256M card in my G2 and it works great. I also occassionally use my 340M IBM Microdrive, I don't notice any slowdowns with that either, but battery life is of course shorter. >>


Nice. Almost 600 MB for the G2. I have 480, although I might sell one of my 64 MB cards since I tend to carry my laptop around with me anyway when I travel. I was thinking about the 340 MD until the 256 cards started really dropping in price, and plus the battery issue and potential delicateness worried me.

 

[Supahfreak]

Whoa, just woke up Thanks for the suggestions.

FreAk